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Fatah official: “The idea of a national home for the Jews is a colonialist idea… [Palestinians must] sue Britain as we are talking about a holocaust that has exceeded the Holocaust of the Jewish people in Germany”

Official PA TV show Palestine This Morning, on the 100th anniversary of the Balfour Declaration, hosting Fatah Revolutionary Council member Abdallah Kmeil

Fatah Revolutionary Council member Abdallah Kmeil: "When we talk about the Balfour Promise (i.e., Declaration), we must also talk- or get into a historical matter. There is the [former British Prime Minister Sir Henry] Campbell-Bannerman document for instance, which is an important document prepared by the former British prime minister, who held a series of meetings with the colonialist states at the time, between 1905 and 1907 (PMW could find no reliable record of such a document and the minutes of the 1907 Imperial Conference led by Campbell-Bannerman disprove the following claims –Ed.). This document divided the world into three parts – a part to work with that is an ally and the one that has a connection to the advanced Christian culture – they are to be helped by all means and worked with as they are allies. There is also the second part, and this is the part that between this culture and that part there is no- [there is no connection to] the states included in this framework there is no cultural clash between them, and therefore they are to be helped cautiously. The third part is the significant part that was being looked at, and that is the Arab region. They looked at the Arab region and at [the fact] that it should be made ignorant by all means, and should be divided by all means. And this nation that speaks one language cannot be divided, as it says in the text of the document: They have one language, approximately one religion, and shared hopes, and therefore also one history. They must be divided by planting a foreign body in the heart of the Arab homeland, and especially between Asia and Africa. And they talked about Israel or the Jews being the ones who need to be in this region. If so, the idea of a national home for the Jews is a colonialist idea, and even the Jews themselves did not have a plan-"

Official PA TV host: "We are talking- focusing on the aid for the Zionist project, not the Jews themselves. Aid for the Zionist project - in other words, the Zionists that came out with this project."

Abdallah Kmeil: "Exactly. This is a colonialist project that has no connection to the religious aspect. Afterwards the Israelis or Jews took this seriously, and the ones who originally thought about the Jews were the rich ones among them. And we will even go back to history; there is another document more important than the Campbell-Bannerman document, [British sources who voiced support for the return of the Jewish people to their land before the Balfour Declaration]. Therefore, [former British Foreign Secretary] Arthur Balfour's promise is actually a result of a series of actions carried out by a number of British intellectuals."

Host: "Yes, in other words, Doctor, that was in regards to the history of the Balfour Promise. Let's talk more about the protest processions and rallies that took place. How will they affect the position of Britain for instance, particularly when [British] Prime Minister Theresa May – of course – talks and is still talking about being proud, and that she feels honor and also invited [Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin] Netanyahu to a festive dinner, in other words, to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the Balfour Promise."

Abdallah Kmeil: "I have said that there is no choice but for the Palestinian steps to continue. In other words some of these processions, at least, certainly suing Britain. There is no choice but to sue Britain as we are talking about a holocaust that has exceeded the Holocaust of the Jewish people in Germany. This is a holocaust of the Palestinian people and a holocaust of the Palestinian national rights by making the [Balfour] Promise, and this is a text that ridicules the Palestinian people…
If we think that already since 1907, through the Bannerman document, Britain intended to destroy the resources of the Arab world, to destroy the Arab unity by placing a watchdog (i.e., the Jews) in the heart of the Arab world for its interests – if so, the matter is relevant to the whole Arab world, and therefore there is no choice but for all parties to act, whether they are official, or popular institutions, or national and Islamic forces and such. They must all act to divert Britain from what it is doing, and to force Britain to apologize and compensate [the Palestinians].
We are not taking about a promise (i.e., the Balfour Declaration) by whose power the Jews came to our land, no. They came and murdered and carried out their Nazism and fascism towards the Palestinian people. T his expulsion and scattering that the Palestinian people has experienced– At the moment, more than seven million Palestinian refugees are living in difficult conditions in the world, and the Palestinian people is living under occupation. This people has sacrificed thousands of thousands of Martyrs (Shahids) and more than a million prisoners, [and suffered] acts of home destruction, and the exploitation of our lands, and therefore there is no choice but to compensate this people. Britain is the one responsible for this ongoing tragedy and what the Palestinian people is going through." […]

Official PA TV host: "True, Germany's reparations to the Jewish people have been more than 100 billion [dollars] until this year."

Abdallah Kmeil: "No, according to what they say it is not reparations. It is interest on the amounts that were determined. In other words, the Jews have not been receiving reparations, they are receiving interest."

Host: "If so, has the interest [reached] this amount?"

Abdallah Kmeil: "Yes, the goal is the destruction of the German economy. Afterwards – you [Jews ] experienced a heavy tragedy, as you say. And afterwards you are causing the same tragedy to the original owners of this land, the owners of Palestine."

The Balfour Declaration of Nov. 2, 1917 was a letter from British Foreign Secretary Arthur Balfour to Baron Rothschild stating that “His Majesty's government views with favour the establishment in Palestine of a national home for the Jewish people.” In 1922, the League of Nations adopted this and made the British Mandate “responsible for putting into effect the declaration,” which led to the UN vote in 1947 and the establishment of the State of Israel.

Ahead of the 100th anniversary of the Balfour Declaration, British Prime Minister Theresa May said before the British House of Commons on Oct. 25, 2017: “We are proud of the role that we played in the creation of the State of Israel, and we will certainly mark the centenary with pride.”

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